J-Stars Victory Vs is a tag team Fighting game featuring characters from the various franchises of Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. The game is meant to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Shonen Jump and was released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on March 19, 2014. It was re-released for western territories as J-Stars Victory VS+ for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita, with an additional Arcade Mode for the international release. It was released in Europe on June 26, 2015 and in North America on June 30, 2015.

Contents

Overview

First announced in the second issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine of 2013, Namco Bandai Games stated that they would be releasing the "ultimate Jump game." Previously named Project Versus J, it was made to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Jump.

Hironobu Kageyama, Akira Kushida, and Hiroshi Kitadani sang the game's theme song "Fighting Stars." People who pre-ordered the game received the J-Stars Victory Book, a volume bound like a Jump Comics book and filled with information and visuals of Jump heroes over the years. The localized version of the game came with a digital compendium. A free augmented-reality (AR) app lets you see the Jump heroes in your surroundings on the PS Vita.

Gameplay

J-Stars Victory Vs lets up to four players battle it out against one another in a gameplay and graphical style similar to those of Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle. Fighters can move and fight in all directions of a 3D battle field. Players should learn the lay of the land and formulate a battle plan with a character suited to it.
A defeated character comes back after a set amount of time passes. To win the battle, all three sections of the WIN gauge at the top of the screen have to be filled; the gauge fills one section each time an opponent is defeated. Fighters can use regular attacks, power attacks, area-based attacks, and finishing moves. Regular attacks are the main part of the battle, and all combos begin with them. Power attacks leave the user open, but they have a big impact if they connect and their power can be increased by charging them up. Area-based attacks allow to hit opponents over a wide area. By using different techniques, the player can lead his team to victory; learning each character's different power, range, and effects is the first step towards being unbeatable.

Characters

Playable Characters (39)

At first, only Luffy, Toriko, Naruto, Gintoki, Goku, and Ichigo are available at the start. The rest of the characters must be unlocked through the Story Mode or purchased at the Store.

Support (13)

All the characters who appear as support (characters who appear on the screen and do something such as an attack or recovering the player's health before disappearing). None of the Support characters are available at first. They all need to be unlocked in Story Mode or purchased with the in-game currency via the Store. Additionally, all of the playable characters can be used as support as well.

Gallery

Reception

The Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game 32/40, with all four reviewers giving the game 8/10.

Trivia

The appearance of some characters are taken from their most popular sagas instead of their current ones at the moment the game was launched. For example, this includes Seiya (from Sanctuary Saga), Yusuke (from Dark Tournament Saga), Ichigo and Rukia (from Aizen Saga), and Goku and Vegeta (from Cell Saga). Some others are taken from the current anime saga at the moment instead of the current manga saga. This includes Joseph Joestar (from Battle Tendency Saga), Toriko and Zebra (from Four Beast Saga), Gon and Killua (from the Chimera Ant Saga), and Naruto, Sasuke and Madara (from Ten-Tails Saga).

J-Stars was released 2014, two whole years before the anime adaptation of The Dangerous Life of Saiki K., which released in 2016. Because of this, Saiki is voiced by Shintaro Asanuma (who portrayed him in the ONA) as opposed to Hiroshi Kamiya (who portrayed him in the anime adaptation).